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No win for Serena in comeback match

Article By: Staff reporter

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Recent mother and former number one tennis star Serena Williams is positive despite a crushing loss in her first competitive match since giving birth to her daughter.

Serena, who played alongside her sister Venus Williams, lost 6-2, 6-3 against Dutch duo Lesley Kerkhove and Demi Schuurs in a Fed Cup dead rubber in Asheville, North Carolina on Sunday.

Although the Williams sisters have an impressive track record, having won 22 doubles titles together, reports say Serena was “particularly slow on her feet and poor in her shot selection”, which ultimately cost the Williams the match against the Dutch pair who played in their first outing together.

Despite this, Serena says it was “good to be back in the court”.

"I honestly feel better than I thought I was gonna feel, I feel like I didn't expect to play you know like that for me. So I feel like that I'm on the right track.

“I've been training and it was just exciting to be out there," the sports star added.

Serena also said that although her accuracy was off, she was happy with the power behind her shots and particularly with her serves.

"I didn't expect to have that much power on my serves," she said. "Even though they didn't go in, it's just the start, I feel like that's a very good step in the right direction."

Sunday’s match with Venus is Serena’s first competitive game since winning the 2017 Australian Open.

The 23 Grand Slam title-holder was reportedly eight weeks pregnant with her daughter Alexis Olympia at the time of the win.

The tennis star took time off her profession to give birth to her daughter and get married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian both of who attended the match on Sunday.

Kerkhove, surprised by the win, said: "To play the two Williams sisters, it's amazing because we won the match," said Kerkhove, 26.

"We knew it just 30 minutes before the match. We just both gave it our all and we just had nothing to lose."

The win against the Williams sisters has been considered remarkable considering that Schuurs, the younger of the two Dutch players, was only six years old when Serena had her first major win in her career.